FB Request Page Change: Mafia Wars and JGrabAllGifts

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Facebook announced today some changes associated with Facebook Game Applications.  In particular, The Facebook Requests for all of the game applications.  The announcement took place at Facebook HQ earlier today and the changes are now present on our Facebook and Mafia Accounts.



Requests are no longer divided up into different categories on the request page.  You will have to look at the small print to determine the type of request. 

You will also see a new notification in your Mafia Wars game.  I like this change a lot.  Only 100 requests were visible the old way so you never really knew how many you had.  It will be much easier to keep track of all our requests now.  This notification states that requests have moved to the left column on Facebook.  This is what my left hand column now looks like and I got a Facebook pop-up letting me know that I had gifts available.

You will also notice a new icon in the game header.  It's a Facebook envelope with the number of requests you have pending.  When I click on it, I'm directed to the notification page above.

When Pasang, a fan of Top Mafia.Info clicks on the icon, he gets an in-game option to accept gifts.  I don't have this yet, but I'm very excited to see it exists.  Thanks to Pasang for sharing this.  Top Mafia Fans are the best!

The Mafia Wars request notification states that requests have been moved to the left hand column.  Here is what mine looks like.  I also got a pop-up letting me know I had gifts available just in case I didn't notice all the numbers everywhere.

When I click on the "View Requests" button, I'm redirected to the Games Request Page but I didn't see the option to review my requests.  It was just a list of my friends and what games they play.  It may be too soon for me to verify anything yet.

The Facebook Blog posted an article explaining the changes in more detail.
A Better Games Experience

by Jared Morgenstern on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 5:37pm

Games are an important way we connect with people, from family game night, to playing console games with siblings, to card games with friends. More than 200 million people play games on Facebook every month because it's easy to get started and play with friends. We're focused on improving the quality of the experience for those who play games, as well as those who do not. Today, we're launching features to give you better control over the updates you see in your News Feed.


Previously, you've had the ability to hide an application story, or... block it completely. Now, we're putting changes in place so game stories only post to your feed if you're playing them. This means people who play games can post stories to their Wall without worrying about overwhelming their friends who aren't playing, and people who don't play games won't see irrelevant stories in their feed for which they have no context.

For game players, here are some improvements we're excited to be launching today:

• Full stories in News Feed so they won't miss when a friend shares an action or needs help in a game. The more active a person is in a game, the more prominent the stories will be.
• Smarter bookmarks on the home page that will automatically appear and reorder based on the games they're playing. They will no longer need to individually bookmark apps, and it will be easier to get to favorite apps.
• A clearer, highlighted number for pending requests or tasks alongside bookmarks.
• Requests in the Games Dashboard, where they can manage all their game activity and discover new games.

You’ll no longer need to bookmark individual applications, as the ones you use most often will automatically appear and reorder.

People who do not play games will only see stories when a particular game is added by a group of friends, instead of ongoing News Feed stories. These dedicated stories will show which friends are playing a game, making it easy to join them. Over the coming months, we plan to launch additional features that provide improved and personalized social games and News Feed experiences. Happy gaming!
Jared Morgenstern is the Facebook Product Manager for Games

AllFacebook.com attended the official announcement and documented every step of it in their article titled Live From Facebook Games Announcements. They posted LiveStream coverage that you can watch if you want more details.
(image from allfacebook.com)

Looks like these changes caused Josh Miller of Miller Marklets some work.  JGrabAllGifts is not working at the moment but Josh is on top of it. 

There are still a few things for Josh to work out.  Keep checking The Miller Marklets Fan Page and the Josh Miller's Beta Bookmarklet Page for updates..